ps - report a snapshot of the current processes.
ps displays information about a selection of the active processes. If you want a repetitive update of the selection and the displayed information, use top(1) instead.
This version of ps accepts several kinds of options:
1 UNIX options, which may be grouped and must be preceded by a dash.
2 BSD options, which may be grouped and must not be used with a dash.
3 GNU long options, which are preceded by two dashes.
Options of different types may be freely mixed, but conflicts can appear. There are some synonymous options, which are functionally identical, due to the many standards and ps implementations that this ps is compatible with.
Note that “ps -aux” is distinct from “ps aux”. The POSIX and UNIX standards require that “ps -aux” print all processes owned by a user named “x”, as well as printing all processes that would be selected by the -a option. If the user named “x” does not exist, this ps may interpret the command as “ps aux” instead and print a warning. This behavior is intended to aid in transitioning old scripts and habits. It is fragile, subject to change, and thus should not be relied upon.
Cheers
pavs


